An ominous silence hung in the air. The chirping of crickets, busily making more crickets in the bushes, was audible.

"M-m-m," Stas shared his profound thought since the spirit had asked him a question but had not considered removing her hand from his face.

Stas preferred not to make any sudden movements. Judging by the demonstrated strength, the yokai would have no trouble crushing his face and jaw into a roll with a crunch of bones and gushing blood and flesh.

"Oh, how forgetful I am," the demoness chuckled, finally removing her hand from Stas's face and making herself more comfortable in their dugout, which had suddenly become very cramped.

Below, something hissed, and the curious face of Leviathan emerged. Not wanting to be left out of the celebration of life, she crawled up to see what was so interesting.

"Oh, what a beauty you are!" Kaede cooed, beginning to stroke Leviathan's head closer to her nose and between her two ridges. There, the snake's scales were smaller and more sensitive.

To Stas's bright annoyance, the snake allowed Kaede such tenderness!

Levi's tongue flickered quickly from her mouth, tickling the hand and making the yokai giggle.

"Okay, enough, enough! Oh, Shiro-kun, what were we talking about? I seem to have forgotten," the yokai asked thoughtfully, rolling her eyes and tapping her finger on her lips.

"We were discussing what kind of houses you prefer. Which do you like more, stone houses or perhaps wooden ones? How many rooms? Does the age of the house matter, or is a new build acceptable?" Stas quickly composed himself, and his voice took on those familiar and loathed tones of the salespeople you can meet at big stores.

The man genuinely detested it when he entered such places to calmly look for something, only to be bombarded with dozens of questions and offers the next second.

And even if he managed to fend them off and finally get some blessed silence, there was always some salesperson nearby, drilling into his back with a suspicious gaze.

In such moments, Stas always had one single question: 'Do I really look so much like a petty criminal who will grab something and try to run away?'

"Oh, I don't even know," the scary yokai said, causing Stas to breathe a sigh of relief. From their first encounters, the earthling realized that local spirits, or at least this representative of their society, had a pronounced attention deficit syndrome.

Spirits found it very difficult to concentrate on one thing for long. And although Kaede had embarked on the path of improvement, full victory over this ailment was still far off.

Of course, it was unseemly to take advantage of one's patient's weakness, but Stas had one very compelling reason – he very much wanted and loved to live.

"I haven't really thought about it. What options are there? I just used to live in a regular palace corridor."

"Oh, that is a very good question," Stas nodded approvingly. "This matter cannot be taken lightly. First, I need to know your preferences and start looking for the best option for you from there. After all, what if you don't like the choice of the house?"

"What?" the scary yokai echoed, enchanted by Stas's smooth speech.

"It would be very bad," Stas concluded. "You would constantly feel dissatisfaction and a desire to move out. And that, well, must not be allowed to happen."

"Oh, I didn't even know it was so important! Thank you, Shiro-kun," the yokai said joyfully, even hugging the twitching Stas. Ordyntsev turned bright red, not from embarrassment, but from the pressure of the squeeze.

An awkward silence followed. Kaede continued to lie there, stroking the languorous snake, while Stas's whole demeanor indicated that it was time for the guest to leave.

The guest, however, did not notice his hints.

"Kaede-san, you don't happen to have any important matters left to attend to?" Stas inquired with a honeyed voice.

'Get out of my dugout, damn it, and let me sleep!'

"No, Shiro-kun," the spirit girl shrugged naively. "I wasn't planning on doing anything!"

Her words were so innocent that Ordyntsev narrowed his eyes mistrustfully. He had a growing suspicion that he was being exquisitely mocked all this time.

But the yokai's face showed no trace of any malice. On the other hand, could you trust the expressions of a clearly dead creature that completely controlled her mystical physiology?

Having no choice, Stas demonstratively turned his back on the scary dead spirit. In any case, he couldn't do anything right now, so he wouldn't torment himself over it.

Sleep came poorly due to strained nerves, but Stas made an effort and began to drift off.

Just as he was almost slipping into dreams, his hand felt the slide of dense scales.

Leviathan carefully laid her four meters of length on the warm body of her owner. Days of travel and hunting in the forest allowed the snake to grow even more. Moreover, unlike the yokai, Stas's temperature was pleasantly warming.

Only when Ordyntsev was asleep did another creature tightly embrace him from behind. Kaede didn't know what caused this irrational desire.

Perhaps it was the strengthening attachment to the real world.

After all, the absence of connection with the environment is a kind of blessing for spirits and various mystical creatures.

In their usual state, they do not feel lonely or lost. The lack of memories and attachments does not trouble them. There is no desire to leave familiar places.

Stas's intervention simultaneously helped and made Kaede more miserable.

Like Lucifer offering an innocent spirit the apple of knowledge, he opened up a whole world to her, allowing her to feel herself in it, an insignificant grain of sand that nobody cared for.

That's why, although the yokai could find herself a new home, she hurried after the only being she knew. After all, she had no one else in this world.

*****

The morning pleased Stas with the absence of the night guest. The earthling wasn't eager to explain the matter of "What is this new character?" to the other warmasters.

And in general, Ordyntsev was frightened by the yokai who could get so close to him.

After the memorable conversation between the princes, neither side was in a hurry to communicate with each other. On the other hand, the previous tension was also gone. Each side was busy with their own affairs, not paying much attention to the other.

If you spot this tale on Amazon, know that it has been stolen. Report the violation.

Both injured sat quietly on logs, recovering, while their comrades patiently watched the surroundings.

Aoi busied himself with carving some symbols on a pair of wooden planks kindly provided by Katashi. As it turned out, water under high pressure worked great as a jigsaw.

This detail interested Ordyntsev. He inquired Jishin about the choice of material for seals, and here's what became clear.

The shackles, which, by the way, Sumada took with him, were made of very expensive and rare prana iron. That is, the type of iron that absorbs and conducts prana the best.

It is mined in a few places and costs a lot of money.

From such material, the most powerful and dangerous artifacts of this world are created. Experienced warriors armed with prana iron blades can channel elements through them, attacking with unique techniques.

The plates that Aoi was tossing around during the battle were made of ordinary iron with a small admixture of that material. Regular iron would have conducted prana much worse, and the explosion would have been considerably weaker.

Needless to say, using wood was even worse. However, even so, in the hands of a master of seals, these plates could serve well.

Some of the warmasters settled into meditation, pushing prana through their channels. In this way, they stretched and strengthened them, increasing their capacity.

After all, the more and faster a warmaster could conduct prana through his channels and then nourish his muscles with it, the stronger he struck and the quicker he moved. In addition to this, the speed of processing information also increased.

However, if one overdoes it with acceleration in the heat of battle, there is a risk of damaging or even burning out one's channels, losing the ability to control prana, or, much more likely, simply dying.

Jishin, who finally "got his hands on" his prana, sat in meditation like a cat that had gorged itself on cream. Every gesture showed how pleased he was.

Ordyntsev did not slack off, either.

However, unlike the other warmasters, his tasks were simpler. At the moment, he was making his prana channels release prana into his muscles in a unified, uninterrupted stream.

He wasn't chasing a large volume; his goal was full body strengthening, albeit very weak.

The importance of this training was hard to overstate.

To better understand this point, one only needs to ask oneself: what happens if a warmaster crashes into the ground at a hundred kilometers per hour?

Of course, if he is good at strengthening and has large prana reserves, he will calmly get up and continue the fight.

But at the same time, what if, at the moment of impact, his concentration falters and his muscles, for example, of the left leg, lose their prana nourishment?

Given the pressure and force of the impact, the warmaster can say goodbye to his left leg immediately.

The first successes in such training appeared quickly, in a matter of days. However, Stas did not let himself be deceived.

He could control his prana in absolute safety and calm, while a fight is quite another matter.

All his concentration would instantly go awry, and he would be absolutely defenseless against enemy strikes. As if that wasn't enough, he had to deliver not small portions of prana, to which he was only just getting accustomed, but stable streams of energy directly from the core.

It was also worth remembering that strengthening, as well as acceleration, consumed prana. Yes, unlike the external techniques, the costs were tolerable, but even such losses were already significant for Ordyntsev's tiny reserve.

It was clear that instant mastery of local techniques should not be expected. However, Stas, thanks to an active and agile mind, grasped the concepts of prana control much faster than the locals.

Moreover, since his channels, in fact, appeared only a few months ago, he could be called almost an infant learning prana. This gave amazing advantages.

Thus, he was at the perfect age for learning prana, although the locals did not even suspect it.

On top of everything else, his 21st-century human mind was accustomed to handling much larger volumes of information than the locals.

It was precisely all of the above that allowed him to achieve in a matter of months what even the most talented warmasters take years to do.

Nevertheless, unlike him, those warmasters do that as children.

But further development required from Stas not just months of systematic training, but quite real years.

This was depressing, especially in a world where one could be killed for even the most far-fetched reason. And there was nothing to be done about it.

You can't become equal to those who train for years and decades in months.

Stas could only hope that he would have a few years to step up to a new level of prana control.

*****

The farewell, as the locals love, was formal to the utmost.

Two groups lined up opposite each other, and Jishin and Katashi stepped forward.

"I thank the Sumada for their help in the battle against the Deathbringers," Katashi bowed stiffly. "I hope your roads will be safe, and you will successfully reach your home."

"Thank you, the Mizuno, for the help with removing the prana-blocking shackles." Jishin returned the bow. "I wish your uncle a successful recovery."

Suddenly, Katashi smirked, breaking all the solemnity of the moment, causing Jishin to roll his eyes irritably and Aoi to cover his face with his hand.

"Alright, Ji-kun..."

"Don't you dare call me that!" Sumada roared, petrified with anger.

"Don't be so strict with your friend," Katashi laughed. His good mood seemed unbreakable. "If yours need to send someone on a diplomatic mission, feel free to volunteer, we'll welcome you as an honored guest!"

The heir's gaze rested on Stas, standing at the edge.

"Shiro-san, my respect. Your medical skill deserves the highest compliment. Tell Goro Sumada that he is lucky to have such a person as you offering your services to his clan."

"Thank you very much for the kind words, Katashi-san," Stas smiled gratefully at the heir. The words of the prince of the great clan were the best recommendation letter for future work.

To draw an analogy, this praise was akin to the president of some "small" earthly company, like JPMorgan or ExxonMobil, publicly and in the most flowery terms, appraising Ordyntsev's skills.

Although, in a way, he certainly did them all, both Jishin and Stas, a disservice.

The Sumada leadership could not ignore Mizuno's suspicious activity around them.

But in this matter, the main thing was that their value outweighed the risks.

Stas already roughly envisioned the paths of events that awaited them upon arrival in the clan's lands.

His mind was already generating the most polite and convincing words that would convey his own usefulness and downplay Jishin's capture.

Of course, one could try to talk to Shin and Kusa. Try to persuade them to hide some aspects of their interaction with Mizuno.

However, Stas immediately dismissed this idea as not only foolish but incredibly dangerous.

What if Shin decides not to keep silent and, what's more, talks about their conversations with the Mizuno heir and also mentions the attempt to make him shut up?

Ordinary suspicion will instantly turn into a hundred percent certainty of a conspiracy.

Stas wasn't about to give such a gift to his enemies.

"By the way, you have a funny pet. Rare. Don't lose her." Katashi nodded with a smile at Leviathan peeking out from under the clothes. Her presence significantly bulked up Stas's figure.

"I'll do everything in my power." Stas was as sincere as ever at that moment.

The farewell ended, and the Mizuno turned and headed one way, and the Sumada almost in the opposite direction.

Due to Shin's injury, their pace had noticeably slowed down, but it was still good.

It was during these days that Ordyntsev was able, for the first time, to properly appreciate the beauty of the world he had been thrown into.

At some point, forests gave way to fields, which were covered in pink and red blankets.

Tiny flowers, phloxes, spread to the horizon, flaming in the rays of the warm sun.

As Stas understood, in this world, the warm period lasts a very long time. So, for more than three months of his stay here, the temperature hardly changed at all.

Beyond the fields appeared rivers and small streams, flowing into small lakes. And all this splendor, at some point, gradually transformed into waterfalls here and there.

Fortunately, everyone present had mastered the skill of walking on water, which smoothly stemmed from the ability to adhere prana to surfaces.

Only in this case, as Stas understood, a much better control over one's own energy was required.

In such moments, Kusa would hoist Stas on his back and quickly carry him across the next water obstacle. If the water flowed quickly, the warmaster was simply swept away by the current if he didn't move his legs rapidly.

Their journey took a total of five more days. Once, already in the friendly country of Rashta, they stopped in a town to eat well and wash up.

No one wanted to return to the native lands of the Sumada clan dirty and ragged.

Unlike the road when he had just arrived in Akaru City, now Stas, if not with ease, certainly bore the journey much better.

Why? There could be only one answer – prana.

This mysterious energy, even in a passive state, strengthened and fortified its user's body.

Now Ordyntsev could calmly tramp through the wilderness all day, and by evening, he didn't want to kill himself.

Moreover, he even found the strength during the walk to try to push prana through his body. And it even bore fruit.

At such moments, the earthling's body seemed to suddenly shed some twenty or thirty kilograms of its weight. He wanted to jump and fly, like an astronaut on the Moon.

Thus, Ordyntsev simultaneously expanded his reserve, constantly spending and recovering prana, and eased the hardships of the road.

However, everything ends eventually, and so they did manage to reach the lands of the Sumada clan.

Ordyntsev was full of determination to carve out a place for himself under the sun at any cost.